Sofia

Sofia (Instagram: @sofiastamatiadis) travels with Harry and Mac through the second half of the Jordan trip in November 2021 — she is with them at Wadi Rum, Aqaba and back in Amman, and is credited by Harry alongside Mac in the series’ closing film.

She is Greek, and does a good deal of the driving. Harry’s description of being her passenger — a rollercoaster, all swerving and hard braking — is one of the running jokes of the Aqaba videos, and he immediately concedes he is in no position to comment, having hit a kerb on his own first morning at the wheel.

What she contributes

The most useful ninety seconds in the Jordan cluster are hers, and Harry hands them to her rather than answering for her. Asked at the end of a day in Aqaba about the persistent staring — the one place in the country where he says the welcome felt different — she gives the bundle’s only first-hand account of travelling the region as a woman:

• It is something you hold your own through, and she compares it to time spent in Egypt, including alone, so she is describing a region rather than one town.
• Dress appropriately, and be strong in your stance — her two pieces of practical advice, and the second has no equivalent anywhere else in the bundle.
• She would not tell any woman to stay away or to skip the trip, and says so emphatically.
• The staring is not the same as the people: everyone they actually dealt with that evening — the tea seller who walked them to dinner, his son, the restaurant — was kind.

The advice is recorded on cover up in conservative countries, a page otherwise written entirely from a man’s experience of being turned away at doors.

On the local beach in Aqaba the following day she covers up, having been warned in advance to expect what she gets.

Appears in

• $200 Luxury Jordan Resort 🇯🇴 — from Wadi Rum down to Aqaba, and the account of being stared at.
• $180 Boat Scam in AQABA, JORDAN 🇯🇴 — the Red Sea boat trip, and the local beach.
• Trying DELICIOUS Jordanian food🇯🇴 — driving them back up to Amman.
• DISCOVER JORDAN - Cinematic 4K Travel Film 🇯🇴 — credited by name in the closing film of the series.
• Why I Travelled the World This Year — named again in Harry’s summary of the year, as part of the best ten days of it.